When treaty definitions turn monitors into capital ships

The treaty category treated vessels other than aircraft carriers above 10,000 tons or carrying guns larger than 8 inches as capital ships. That definition could draw slow monitors into capital-ship accounting despite their limited ability to fight battleships. The Russo-Japanese War and the First World War provide the comparison with what happened when such vessels encountered more capable warships. Another clause is criticised for its lower boundaries of 7,500 tons and 10-inch main armament for construction before January 1943. A ship built near those limits would face a fleet environment containing 14-, 15-, and 16-inch-gunned battleships. The objection is that treaty categories can create nominal capital ships whose operational usefulness bears little relation to the category they occupy.